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Friday, 30 January 2009

I am on a bit of a roll (excuse the pun!) as I have finished my Tudor Roll and actually made it up. I did not have any Batiste lace (any ideas where to get this from in the UK?) so I used what I had and I quite like the way it looks.

Shepherd's Bush Tudor Roll

28 count cream fabric

Dmc thread and Mill Hill Beads

Started 25th January 2009

29th January 2009

I have also had another SB finish but can't show it yet until it's made up and arrives with its new Mum!

So on the agenda for the rest of January (I know it's only two more evenings stitching) I might stitch on HAED TT Letter J and get a bit further with that. The end is in sight and I now have the urge to get it finished so I can get back to QS Girly Gothic!

Now onto my WIPs from this week. BBD Beyond my Heart received a little bit of attention on Sunday evening. I didn't get as much as I would have liked done but every little of progress is better than none!

Monday is my night for stitching on Needleprint Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler for the SAL I'm taking part in. I am happy with what I got done as I'm not really bothered if it takes me all year to stitch this piece. Slowly and surely will be the key! LOL!

Finally my progress from Wednesday which is HAED SAL evening with Lisa and Claire. Again not really a huge amount of progress but nevertheless it's progress.

So that's my update for today. It'll be February soon and I'll be stitching another biscornu, Christmas ornament and needleroll. I've decided on the needleroll and the ornament but not sure on the biscornu yet!

Thank you to Alison and Michele for helping me out with the SB freebies I was looking for. I appreciate your help very much:) I am still looking for Gentle Garden if anyone can help me with that one please.

Jess and I are still coughing and I have another ear infection and now Abi and DH have started with the colds too! Well Jess and I like to share! Of course DH has man flu not just cold! LOL! Bless him!

Take care everyone and get prepared for the freezing weather we're forecast for the weekend and next week!

Monday, 26 January 2009

It's Monday, it's the start of the week blues and I'm sick of coughing! Poor Jess is on her second cold since Christmas and is having nose bleeds too so she's not a happy bunny either. Nevertheless I am happy to have spread a little cheer to my dear online friend Yuko. She signed up for my PIF last June and I finally got around to stitching a little something for her. Reading her blog I saw she liked sheep and one of her favoruite designers is Shepherd's Bush so what better than the SB freebie Friendship Lamb. I stitched it using DMC, made it into a pinkeep type finish, edged it with lace and stitched little roses at the corners. Yuko loved it so I was very happy. I didn't take a picture of the backing fabric so if you'd like to see please visit Yuko's blog as she has pictured on there of it.

Shepherd's Bush Friendship Lamb

Unknown Fabric

DMC

PIF for Yuko

Another piece of finishing I can show if my first ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL. As I had stitched Olga'sHearts and Snowflakes biscornu I decided to stitch the ornament as well. This was lovely to stitch and I had great fun deciding what to make the "tassel" and hanger with! I love how this has turned out. Please excuse the photos. It's so dull here today but using the flash on the camera has bleached the piccies out a little.

Olga Teague Hearts and Snowflakes Ornament

28 count fabric

DMC

Beads

I made a start on my SB needleroll yesterday and made good progress on it. I decided on the Tudor roll for this month and I love the pastel colours. It is just so pretty. I am going to enjoy stitching one a month so thanks Chris for suggesting the SAL.

I'll be back later in the week with my WIPs progress and, hopefully, a needleroll finish:)

Friday, 23 January 2009

I think I am on a bit of a roll but it won't last! Having said that I am more determined this year not to have too many BAPs on the go so that I can get some smaller bits stitched.

Anyway this finish is my first biscornu for the Basket of Biscornu SAL. It was quick and lovely to stitch and I love how it looks.

Olga Teague Hearts and Snowflakes Biscornu

28 count fabric

DMC

Beads

Next up is my progress from Sunday on BBD Beyond My Heart. I'm not sure about the thread colour for the wording although it does show up better IRL. The last Loose Feathers chart from the 2008 series is coming soon to Needlecraft Corner and it sounds as though it could be a Valentine type design. I have to admit that I am quite disappointed that they haven't done a Wintry/ Christmassy design like they have other years. Although I have enjoyed the designs I don't actually think that some of them have been as nice as other years but it's a chance you take.

Monday evening was my BP night and I managed to get a fair bit done. I did have a visit from the frog and stupidly made damn near the same mistake twice! After next Monday's progress I'll post to the BP SAL blog as that will be my final progress pic for January.Wednesday is SAL night with Lisa and Claire was maybe going to join us too. The end is in site on my TT Sampler Letter J as I have finished page 3 and made a start on page 4 so I am very happy. It won't be long before QS Girly Gothic can come out to play and I am determined to stitch her until she's finished and not get waylaid by something else!

So that's my stitching for this week so far. I've made a start on my Christmas ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL and it shouldn't take too long to stitch up.Chris gave me the Your Blog is Fabulous award which is my first award of 2009 and I am really pleased:) I have to list my 5 addictions and also nominate 5 bloggers so here goes:)

My two girls. They are the lights of my life

Stitching. Need I say more!

Stash. Again need I say more!

Blogs and anything to do with stitching on the Net!

Chocolate. If it's in the house I have to eat some!

Now onto my nomiations. As Chris says please don't be offended if your blog isn't here. It doesn't mean I love your blog any less. It's not easy picking just 5. And Chris right back at ya!

Now I have a little favour to ask. I am after some Shepherd's Bush freebie designs and was wondering if any of you knew where I could get them or if anyone has them that they'd be willing to pass on to me please. The ones I would like are Little Lambs, Gentle Garden, Merry Christmastide and Teri's Sheep. Thank you in anticipation:)

I'm going to catch up on blogs for a while then after lunch I might do a bit of stitching if I can stay awake! I'm coughing and spluttering nicely so not sleeping too well at the moment! DH keeps telling me he'll have to get a licence for me ( in other words I'm barking like a dog!).

Take care and thank you for continuing to visit me in my little stitching corner of the world:)

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Today is Chris' birthday and she has been very naughty and opened her present from me last night! LOL! I will let her off though as I know she goes to work quite early in a morning and wouldn't have had time this morning! Happy Birthday my dear friend!

Anyway I chose to stitch LHN Holly and Berries for her as I saw it on her wish list so decided to make it into a pinkeep type finish with a pocket on the back. I added some scissors to match the red and took the bird motif to make a little scissor fob. I am so pleased that she likes it:) I had to hide this when she visited last Friday as I was still stitching it!

Saturday, 17 January 2009

Yesterday was Lisa's birthday ( Happy Birthday Lisa!) so I stitched this little freebie design, which came with the charts DH bought me for Christmas from Violarium) and made it into a floss ring tag. It was my first attempt at using the Crop-o-dile I got for Christmas and, wow, it's so much easier than using a hammer! LOL!

Couleur Dietoile Un Petit Moment De Broderie

30 count fabric

Carrie's Creations Cranberry Sauce ( I think!)

Stitched for Lisa

Last night I finished up some secret stitching so now I can start my biscornu for the Basket of Biscornu SAL then my ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL and my SB needleroll for my SAL with Chris!

Chris and I met up again yesterday after the failed attempts before Christmas! Chris' car behaved and got her here and back home without a hitch! We had cuppas and a good old natter and we showed each other what we were stitching. Her BRD Sealed With a Kiss is gorgeous as is the SB needleroll she's stitching. I look forward to our next meet up:)

I received a couple of needleroll charts from Barb ( no blog) yesterday so thank you Barb. She is as addicted to them as I am and kindly offered to send me the ones she had stitched that I didn't already have. She also sent a lovely SB kit that I plan to stitch as a gift:)

And I have been naughty today. I am not supposed to be buying charts this year but as I was sorting through my bookmarks and deleting those I don't want anymore I came across Country Cottage where I used to buy from regularly. Shirley is retiring so is in the process of reducing all her stock and I found A Most Noble Persuit reduced and as I've been wanting it and it's a good price on sale I have ordered it! Better behave myself for a long time now and stitch from my stash!

Well I had better dash and get on with my making up as it will be tea time before I know it and the girls' and DH's tummies will be rumbling! Lol!

Thursday, 15 January 2009

No I don't have startitis!! LOL! Sunday evenings are, after all, my Blackbird Designs evenings and I haven't touched one since I finish Blessings and Kind Wishes so I decided it was time to start the next one last Sunday which is Beyond My Heart. I did get quite a lot stitched but the photo is awful as it's so dull here today so the light threads don't show up too well. I am using DMC for this rather than the suggested threads.

Monday evening I faired much better this week on Needleprint Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler which is a SAL I'm taking part in. It is certainly a good thing to do as seeing everyone else's progress gives you the incentive to stitch on yours:)I usally stitch my HAED TT Sampler Letter J as part of the SAL on the HAED forum but there doesn't seem to be many people taking part at the moment so Lisa and I decided just to SAL together on a Wednesday so she is stitching Cabin in the Woods while I stitch my letter J. Last night I did pretty well and I now just have the pale blue to fill in on page three then I can move onto page 4 which is the last page!Other stitching I can't show yet as it's Yuko's PIF which has gone in the post today so I will be able to show that once Yuko has received it. I loved stitching it though and I do hope she likes it.

I received some nice mail today. Sonda and I have recently done a trade and I received L*K Christmas is Forever chart today from her which I love. I'm looking forward to stitching that up this year ready for Christmas! LOL!

I really need to get myself sorted and stitch a biscornu, a Christmas ornament and a needleroll before the end of January! I do have designs picked out for these! Once I get my secret stitching out of the way I can concentrate on those! 2009 is going to be a very busy year for stitching!

Before I forget some of you may remember that I was stitching the Symphony SAL last year. I stitched all but two parts on it and put it away to concentrate on other stitching. Well I have now decided it's not to my liking so if anyone would like it to finish off then keep it please email me but I would appreciate it if you are a regular reader/ commenter on my blog. First person to email me is very welcome to have it:) If you look back at this post you can see where I had got to.

I am away now to try and catch up on blogs. I get so far every day and think I'll do the rest tomorrow then more appear! LOL! I'm seeing lots of lovely stitching though so keep those posts coming!

Friday, 9 January 2009

Yes we can well and truly say now that the Christmas season is over and it's back to normal:( The girls are back at school, DH is back at work and I'm on my own again! Lol! Although I hate it at first once I get used to it again I am semi-OK! No TV on during the day so I can play music! It's the first time I've had chance to listen to the CDs I got for Christmas properly!

And now that everything is back to normal I am getting back into some sort of rotation with my stitching. Monday evening was supposed to be my BP SAL evening but a few stitches in I had to put it down and ended up not picking it up again. Long, boring story so I won't go into it but problem stopping me stitching was resolved on Tuesday morning leaving one relieved Mum ( it was my fault!) and a very happy Abi! So BP stitching was resumed Tuesday evening and here's my little bit of progress.Wednesday evening I was back to my SAL with the HAED forum ( QS, TT, etc) of HAED Tiny Treasures Sampler Letter J. It was so good to get back to this and I am determined to finish it as soon as I can. Once she is finished I think I shall pick up QS Girly Gothic again and try and finish her before starting another.I did a bit of finishing yesterday although my head wasn't really in finishing mode. One I can show but the other I can't as it's secret for now. The one I can show is The Sampler Girl's freebie New Year's Bird. I only finished it simply and it's now hung on some artificial flowers I have.

I have also finished stitching a PIF which I am so pleased about. I am hoping to make it up this afternoon and get it in the post next week.

Writing of PIFs thank you to everyone who wanted to join my latest PIF. I was quite taken aback as I've never had this many wanting to take part before. I am leaving it open until Sunday then will pick the three victims!

Jess has exams over the next few weeks so has been revising a lot over the Christmas holidays and also this week at school. Abi has settled back at school well and has to choose her options for year 10 soon. We went to a meeting last night about it and it made things a little clearer. Things have changed quite a lot since Jess chose hers.

Sunday, 4 January 2009

Late last year I signed up for Lisa's PIF with the promise I'd put this up on my blog in the New Year. So as it's now the New Year this is how it goes:

If you would like to receive something stitched by me within the next 365 days please comment on this post to say that you are interested. If there are more than three takers I will draw three names. If, like other times I've offered this, there are not enough takers or there are none at all I will pick people at random to receive something made by me. If you do decide to take part please keep this going by posting it to your blog. It is a lovely way to spread a little joy in our little stitching world:)

I will leave this open for a week to see how it goes.

To Ruth and Yuko don't worry I haven't forgotten about you. Time has gotten away with me although I do still have 6 months left to complete your PIFs from last time! I was intent on getting them done sooner.

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Happy New Year Everyone! I have had two finishes already; granted one was almost finished in 2008 but it's still a 2009 finish! Lol! First of all, in good time for Christmas 2009, is this one:)

Tournicoton Pere Noel Charmant

32 count Vintage Country Mocha Linen

Gentle Art Sampler Threads

Started 18th December 2008

Finished 2nd January 2009

On New Year's Eve I started The Sampler Girl New Year's Birds freebie and I finished it on New Year's Day.

The Sampler Girl New Year's Birds

Unknown fabric

Gentle Art Sampler Threads

Started 31st December 2008

Finished 1st January 2009

On New Year's Day I had my first new start of 2009. I joined Hazel's Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler SAL when she first set it up and have been itching to get started on it:) I didn't stitch much on it but did get one motif done and I love how it looks. I'm stitching it on 25 count cream lugana using Victorian Motto threads in Antique Rose.Finally my framed Blackbird Designs Blessings and Kind Wishes. I had it framed in the same moulding as Where My Heart Blooms as I wanted to hang them together.

I have had another small new start but can't show it yet:)

We took all the Christmas decorations down today and it looks so bare and horrible now! It always does until I get used to it again. Now I need a good tidy and clean up. DH is back at work on Monday and the girls are back at school Tuesday so I'll be all on my lonesome feeling sorry for myself until I get used to that again. LOL!